Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F16—ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
  • F16H—GEARING
  • F16H59/00—Control inputs to control units of change-speed-, or reversing-gearings for conveying rotary motion
  • F16H59/60—Inputs being a function of ambient conditions
  • F16H59/66—Road conditions, e.g. slope, slippery
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F16—ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
  • F16H—GEARING
  • F16H61/00—Control functions within control units of change-speed- or reversing-gearings for conveying rotary motion ; Control of exclusively fluid gearing, friction gearing, gearings with endless flexible members or other particular types of gearing
  • F16H61/02—Control functions within control units of change-speed- or reversing-gearings for conveying rotary motion ; Control of exclusively fluid gearing, friction gearing, gearings with endless flexible members or other particular types of gearing characterised by the signals used
  • F16H61/0202—Control functions within control units of change-speed- or reversing-gearings for conveying rotary motion ; Control of exclusively fluid gearing, friction gearing, gearings with endless flexible members or other particular types of gearing characterised by the signals used the signals being electric
  • F16H61/0204—Control functions within control units of change-speed- or reversing-gearings for conveying rotary motion ; Control of exclusively fluid gearing, friction gearing, gearings with endless flexible members or other particular types of gearing characterised by the signals used the signals being electric for gearshift control, e.g. control functions for performing shifting or generation of shift signal
  • F16H61/0213—Control functions within control units of change-speed- or reversing-gearings for conveying rotary motion ; Control of exclusively fluid gearing, friction gearing, gearings with endless flexible members or other particular types of gearing characterised by the signals used the signals being electric for gearshift control, e.g. control functions for performing shifting or generation of shift signal characterised by the method for generating shift signals
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F16—ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
  • F16H—GEARING
  • F16H61/00—Control functions within control units of change-speed- or reversing-gearings for conveying rotary motion ; Control of exclusively fluid gearing, friction gearing, gearings with endless flexible members or other particular types of gearing
  • F16H61/02—Control functions within control units of change-speed- or reversing-gearings for conveying rotary motion ; Control of exclusively fluid gearing, friction gearing, gearings with endless flexible members or other particular types of gearing characterised by the signals used
  • F16H61/0202—Control functions within control units of change-speed- or reversing-gearings for conveying rotary motion ; Control of exclusively fluid gearing, friction gearing, gearings with endless flexible members or other particular types of gearing characterised by the signals used the signals being electric
  • F16H61/0204—Control functions within control units of change-speed- or reversing-gearings for conveying rotary motion ; Control of exclusively fluid gearing, friction gearing, gearings with endless flexible members or other particular types of gearing characterised by the signals used the signals being electric for gearshift control, e.g. control functions for performing shifting or generation of shift signal
  • F16H61/0213—Control functions within control units of change-speed- or reversing-gearings for conveying rotary motion ; Control of exclusively fluid gearing, friction gearing, gearings with endless flexible members or other particular types of gearing characterised by the signals used the signals being electric for gearshift control, e.g. control functions for performing shifting or generation of shift signal characterised by the method for generating shift signals
  • F16H2061/0234—Adapting the ratios to special vehicle conditions

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method for automatically identifying a change in the road condition for a vehicle. Heading
• AMT Automatic Mechanical Transmission
• the object of the present invention is to simplify the handling of a vehicle equipped with an automatic mechanical transmission even further, for example in a situation , when driving the vehicle in a high way environment and then into an off-road environment and then back again.
• the method according to the invention is a method for identifying a road condition during driving of a vehicle.
• the vehicle comprises (includes, but is not necessarily limited to) an engine connected to drive at least one wheel of the vehicle via a semi or fully automatic transmission, at least one control unit for receiving input signals and for processing said signals in accordance with programmed logic rules to issue command output signals to said transmission for gear shifting, characterized in that the control unit, when sensing a signal indicative of the presence of a first road condition, is programmed to change gear shifting strategy for said transmission to a gear shifting strategy optimized for said first road condition, if present gear shifting strategy is a second gear shifting strategy for a second road condition, which differs from said first road condition.
• said control unit is programmed to perform the change when registering that a first predetermined pattern of substantially vertical ⁇ movement of said vehicle is to be similar to movements of said vehicle when the vehicle is in said first road condition.
• said road condition signal includes at least a signal generated by a sensor for measuring movement of a cab of the vehicle relative a bodywork of the vehicle.
• said road condition signal includes at least a signal generated by a sensor for measuring vibrations in the vehicle.
• said control unit is programmed to perform the change when registering that a predetermined vibration reference value of said vehicle is exceeded.
• said control unit is programmed to perform the change when sensing suddenly changes over time of acceleration, frequency, wave length and/or amplitude for vertical movements of said vehicle or parts of said vehicle.
• said part of the vehicle can be a wheel, bodywork or a cab of said vehicle. The movement of the wheels relative the bodywork is the strongest parameter when trying to assess which type of road condition the vehicle is currently traveling on.
• the vehicle further comprises at least two pairs of wheels.
• This embodiment is characterized in that the movements of the different wheels in the different wheel pairs are compared and considered when assessing if a gear shifting strategy change is necessary. This is a simple way to register for example if the road has a lot of bumps or holes .
• the control unit uses signals from a vibration sensor, for measuring the vibrations in the bodywork, when assessing if a gear shifting strategy change is necessary. It is known that the vibrations in the bodywork increases when the vehicle is going off-road. Thus, this is another way to register if the road condition has changed. A combination of registering the movements of different vehicle parts (as above) and measuring vibrations in the bodywork further secures a good assessment of when to shift gear shifting strategy.
• Figure 1 diagrammatically shows a view of an embodiment of the invention.
• the vehicle is equipped with an internal combustion engine 1, for example a diesel engine, with a crankshaft 2 which is coupled to a single-disk dry plate clutch 3, which is enclosed in a clutch case 4.
• the crankshaft 2 is connected, non- rotatably, to an input shaft 7, which is rotatably mounted in the housing 8 of a gearbox 9.
• Also rotatably mounted in the gearbox housing 8 are a main shaft 10 and a counter shaft 11.
• a gear wheel is rotatably mounted on the input shaft and can be locked on the shaft with the aid of a synchronizing device provided with a coupling sleeve, which is mounted in a non- rotatable but axially displaceable manner on a hub connected, non-rotatably, to the output shaft.
• a gear wheel rotatably mounted on the main shaft can be locked relative to the input shaft 7.
• both the gearwheels are disengaged from their respective shafts.
• An output end of the main shaft is arranged to, via a propeller shaft, drive at least a pair of wheels .
• a control unit 45 is arranged to control the different pneumatically operated piston cylinder devices for engaging different gear ratios between input shaft 7 and output shaft of the transmission.
• the control unit 45 is programmed with two different gear shift strategies, one optimized for high way condition and one optimized for off-road condition. Compared to the high way gear shifting strategy the off-road gear shifting strategy is not optimized to achieve as low fuel consumption as possible or as high average vehicle speed as possible. Instead enhanced margins for example in the form of enhanced propulsion power reserves is prioritized together with that the number of gear shiftings are kept to a minimum.
• the vehicle is further equipped with a suspension system 55 for the vehicle wheels 56.
• the suspension system can preferably be of the mechanical spring type or air spring type both combined with a shock absorber system, which can comprise hydraulic or pneumatic telescopic shock absorbers.
• the mechanical spring can be e.g. of the leaf type (as shown in Fig.l) or the helical type.
• the movement of the wheels relative to the bodywork 57 can be measured by sensors 58 for measuring the vertical movement of the wheels.
• sensors 58 can be of a control rod type with a torsion potentiometer 59 that can be fixed to a frame or the bodywork 57 of the vehicle.
• Both front wheels and rear wheels of the vehicle can be provided with the sensor and the control unit 45 is arranged to receive the information regarding the vertical movement of the different wheels .
• vibration sensor 60 for measuring the vibrations in the bodywork, can be arranged somewhere in the bodywork 57.
• the control unit 45 is arranged to receive the signals from the vibration sensor 60.
• the vibration sensor 60 can be of an accelerometer type using piezoelectrical material to produce signals, although other types of sensors and materials may be used for measuring the vibrations .
• the torque delivered from the engine 1 is controlled by a throttle control 48 (usually accelerator pedal) in a known manner.
• the accelerator pedal position is obtained from an angle sensor 49.
• the control unit 45 also controls the fuel injection, (i. e. the engine speed and torque via an engine control unit 5) depending on the accelerator pedal position, and the air supply to pneumatic piston-cylinder devices, by means of which e. g. the clutch and the synchronized splitter gear are regulated.
• control unit 45 will change gear shifting strategy and the performance of the transmission will be optimized for the new road condition.
• the control unit 45 In another preferred embodiment of the invention when the vertical movement of the wheel changes according to a predetermined pattern, the control unit 45 will interpret this as a road condition change and the gear shifting strategy will be changed accordingly.
• the predetermined pattern is preferably stored in a memory of the control unit 45.
• the control unit 45 is programmed to compare the movement of one or two front wheels relative to corresponding wheels in the rear of the vehicle. When, for example, one of the front wheels first hits a bump and then after a certain time the rear wheel on the same side of the vehicle hits the same bump the movements are registered and compared to each other.
• the front and rear wheels can be wheels arranged in the front and in the rear of the vehicle respectively.
• the front and rear wheels can also be front and rear wheels in e. g. a bogie wheel configuration in a vehicle.
• the control unit 45 is programmed to register signals from the vibration sensor 60. When the frequency and/or amplitude of the vibration changes, the control unit 45 will interpret this as a road condition change and the gear shifting strategy will be changed accordingly.
• Predetermined reference values for frequencies and amplitudes is preferably stored in a memory of the control unit 45. For example a plane and horizontal highway in good shape could have reference values stored which correspond to small vibration ripples , i. e. vibrations with small amplitudes and high frequencies . Corresponding reference values for off road would have a variety of different frequencies and with considerably bigger amplitudes.
• the control unit 45 can be programmed to continuously compare the reference values with the prevailing road condition.
• the reference values could be one average value for frequency and one for amplitude, which could represent e. g. a variety of conditions classified as off road. If the prevailing road condition is a high way condition the control unit 45 would execute a gear shifting strategy optimized for such high way condition and continuously compare with vibration reference values for an off road condition. When the control unit 45 via the vibration sensor 60 registers vibrations with a bigger variety of frequencies and with higher amplitudes compared to the reference values for off road, the control unit 45 would interpret this as a change in road condition and the gear shifting strategy would be adjusted accordingly. Other grouping of the road conditions than off road and high way is possible.
• the control unit 45 is programmed to register vertical movements of a cab (not shown) of the vehicle relative the bodywork of the vehicle.
• the cab is equipped with a cab suspension system for increased travel comfort.
• the control unit 45 can be programmed to sense changes over time for acceleration, frequency, wave length and/or amplitude for the cab movement.
• the control unit 45 can be programmed to interpret this change as a road condition change.
• a change of the road condition can be registered by comparing predetermined cab movement patterns for different road conditions with the prevailing sensed road condition. When the control unit registers that the prevailing cab movements are similar to one of the predetermined patterns, which do not correspond to the prevailing gear shifting strategy, a road condition change is registered and a gear shifting strategy corresponding to the new road condition is implemented.
• the in figure 1 showed embodiment comprises both the vibration sensor 60 and the wheel movement sensor 58. It is possible to have embodiments according to the invention with only one of the above mentioned ways of sensing the movements of the vehicle or parts of the vehicle (such as a wheel) for identifying the road condition, or a combination of two or several of the above mentioned ways. When using several ways a more secure signal for which road condition is prevailing will be achieved.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Control Of Transmission Device (AREA)
• Vehicle Body Suspensions (AREA)
• Control Of Driving Devices And Active Controlling Of Vehicle (AREA)

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Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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ID=37836101

Family Applications (1)

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Citations (4)

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• 2006
  • 2006-07-07 WO PCT/SE2006/000861 patent/WO2007030051A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2006-07-07 CN CN2006800331370A patent/CN101263325B/zh active Active
  • 2006-07-07 US US12/065,749 patent/US20080234905A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2006-07-07 ES ES06758045T patent/ES2394098T3/es active Active
  • 2006-07-07 EP EP06758045A patent/EP1929186B1/en active Active
  • 2006-07-07 RU RU2008113046/11A patent/RU2395022C2/ru active

Patent Citations (4)

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